The House of the Dead 4[a] is a light gun shooter arcade game developed by Wow Entertainment and published by Sega.

As with The House of the Dead III, there is an end-of-stage bonus where players can receive extra lives depending on headshot level combo, accuracy, and score.

The bonus-life system departs from the previous games, where life is gained by saving hostages; the loss of these events are substituted with an increase of extra-life pickups in the environment.

Soon after, the two travel through the sewers to an information room, where they uncover a plot to fire nuclear missiles worldwide within 24 hours' time, facing the four-armed giant zombie, the Justice, and a pair of mutant tarantulas known as The Lovers along the way.

Taking the subway into zombie-infested streets from an underground shopping district, the agents narrowly avoid attacks by The Empress, a double-ended chainsaw-wielding assassin, and the massive, obese, and nearly impervious Temperance.

James and Kate then learn that the late one-time CEO of the now-defunct DBR Corporation, Caleb Goldman, is responsible for the resurgence of undead.

After the Star is defeated, the duo arrive in time to halt the missile launch, though it is revealed that Goldman's true intention is to revert humankind to its original state in order to prevent them from harming the planet further.

As such, his final legacy, The World, a cryokinetic insectoid humanoid, is released in the opening of "Pandora's Box" to fulfill its role as the successor to his original Emperor project in 2000, having developed underground since his death.

The game makes use of two 100-inch screens, one in front of the players and another behind, as well as a five-speaker sound system, giving the impression that enemies are attacking from all directions.

In order to defeat the Magician, players must reduce its life bar to zero, then throw a grenade within 10 seconds to destroy a controller it picks up.

In July 2005, IGN said it "may be the most visually impressive arcade game ever made," noting the improved lighting and the zombie and environmental details.

"[9] Arcade Belgium praised the arcade game, including the graphics, noting "thirty or so enemies at the same time" with each "very detailed" and "behaving his own way", as well as "bump mapping (seen for instance on enemies' visible muscles)," complex lightning effects such as reflections, particle effects on impact, "fog (in the sewers)," high polygon counts for each monster, realistic water, and elaborate scenery.